Insider Buying: WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) CEO Buys 3,721 Shares of Stock

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) CEO Melissa D. Smith purchased 3,721 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $134.57 per share, with a total value of $500,734.97. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 101,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,616,061.74. This represents a 3.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

WEX Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:WEX traded down $2.27 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $136.02. 11,969 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 565,161. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.73. WEX Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.45 and a 52-week high of $217.47.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $636.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.42 million. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. The business's revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WEX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of WEX from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of WEX in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEX has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $176.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in WEX by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,588 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in WEX by 399.9% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 210,707 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,085,000 after acquiring an additional 168,558 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new position in WEX during the 1st quarter worth $389,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in WEX during the 1st quarter worth $394,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in WEX during the 1st quarter worth $400,000. 97.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About WEX

WEX Inc operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings.